The Silent Muse: the Influence of African Art on Picasso's Early Work with Dr. Gus Casely-Hayford

During the early years of the twentieth century a new form of painting was born. This was not a further resolution of the aesthetic conundrum that had been teasing European artists for centuries - this wasn't an evolutionary step that took us closer to understanding the mechanics of paint and canvas - this was the establishment of a new kind of aesthetic aim. This is the beginning of a radical change in pre-war cultural trajectory, an unstoppable revolution that defined post-war popular culture, and continues to inform the arts. It was a shift that found its most dramatic form in the work of Pablo Picasso, but was triggered and inspired by the art of Africa.

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